


The Jade Library

by seasaltedwolverine



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, mentions of every one else
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:08:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27775075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seasaltedwolverine/pseuds/seasaltedwolverine
Summary: Alphonse goes to Xing to study Alkehestry with Mei, and she's excited to show off her family cultural library, but she may have forgotten who brought alchemy to Xing in the first place.
Relationships: Mei Chan | May Chang/Alphonse Elric
Comments: 9
Kudos: 41





	The Jade Library

“The Chang clan may have its share of hardships, but we also have a treasure, not even the imperial palace can best.” Mei leads the way up an insanely long stone staircase carved into the hill. The early morning mountain air is cool on Al’s skin as they hike up through the predawn chill. The sun lingers below the horizon, slowly desaturating the eastern sky.

“Before the Royal Canal was dug our mountain pass was the only safe passage for many different trade routes.Many peoples and cultures met here and they brought with them stories and knowledge from across the world. Every text that passed through our mountains was copied in its original language and translated and stored here. The imperial palace has copies of the important works in the celestial library in the capital, along with a lot of originals, but it doesn’t have as many as we do.” 

Al wonders how she can talk so much while climbing. The stairs are so steep the ground is only a meter in front of his face when he stands straight. He keeps his head down, afraid to miss a step in the early morning twilight. It’s not dark, but shadows still swallow the details. 

“So why- is it- so far away?” he asks, legs burning. He’s not panting, just breathing. Hard.

“It used to be a monastery.” She says, turning around to sit on a stair. “The monks were the ones who began copying texts. Their order was committed to the pursuit and preservation of knowledge. The Chang family eventually funded and built a library for the monks when their archives were overwhelmed. The Jade Library today is a testament to the dedication of the Chang clan and the wisdom of centuries past.” The words roll off her tongue like a memorized poem and he knows she’s said this many times.

“And we’re up before dawn to go see it because?”

“It’s a surprise,” she says jumping to her feet and bouncing up the steps.

The top of the staircase comes sooner than expected. It ends in a small courtyard facing enormous green doors. A single scraggly cherry tree grows out of a small pedestal in the center of a dry pond. Like everything else, the place is a shadow of its former self, but here the march of time seems to preserve rather than decay. The doors are patinaed but strong and meant to stand the test of time.

The sun flashes over the high mountains behind them. This high in the mountains the sunrise is swift and the light quickly stretches over the doors as dawn begins to flood the valleys. The painted wood glows with warmth, brass fittings winking in the light.

Mei turns from the sunrise over her homeland and pushes the great green doors. They swing inwards and the low angle of the rising sun illuminates the gloom. The great mural on the wall glitters; bronze, jade, and colored glass reflecting the light all around the room in chaotic shimmering rainbows. It shows both a map of the library and its history, carefully represented in hundreds of shining glass tiles and formed bronze pieces. The main entrance chamber branches into passages and stairways leading to thousands upon thousands of books and scrolls, centuries of knowledge accumulated and preserved. It’s not just beautiful and efficient – in the morning light, it's awe-striking. 

Mei had seen the libraries of Amestris. They weren’t small but utilitarian and plain, nothing like the beauty of her Jade Library. She knows the Jade Library is a sight to behold and she looks back to Al to see his reaction.

It’s not what she imagined. He’s looking at the mosaic mural like it holds answers he never wanted to know. Mei follows his gaze to the golden sage from the west.

The first time she saw the mural was when her mother brought her up the grand staircase to begin her alkahestry training. She had been taught the stories behind the mural and seen it nearly every day since then. The library served as a reminder of her clan’s glory days but the mural had always shown her what glory she could attain; the grandeur of alkahestry, a foundation to her identity. She’s about to offer an explanation when she really looks at it for the first time since before her journey to Amestris.

She sees the golden-eyed icon on the wall, front and center, offering his wisdom to the original order, and the golden-eyed boy standing next to her. A boy who might take more after his mother but has his father’s stance and stature. Legends don’t have sons, don’t have families they leave behind. Various scholars had suggested over the years that the gold hair and eyes were exaggerations due to the connotations of purity and perfection, but proof stands beside her. 

Her heart drops. She should have realized, oh but she should have realized.

It occurs that of all the things he’s told her about Amestris, and all the people he’s told her of, Ed and Winry and Scar and Yoki and Jerso and Zampano and the men in the military, he’s not mentioned his father. She doesn’t think it’s her place to ask but the look on his face doesn’t speak of a happy ending.

He walks up to the wall, dwarfed by the empty space he crosses, and rests his hand on the cold tiles of the mosaic. Seeing him next to the larger than life depiction of his father makes it all the more obvious. Mei feels that for the first time the library has let her down.

“He’s gone now.” Al’s voice sounds small, echoing in the empty library.

“About a week after… he made it back to Resembool to visit mom's grave. Ed and I were still in Central. The alchemy keeping him together just - ran out. Didn’t bother to say goodbye. Again.”

Mei knows all about fathers who can’t be bothered with their children. She’s one of 47. But the emperor was never expected to do anything but sire an heir. Her family knew that from the day her mother was presented as a bride of the emperor. She never had a hole in her life, was never left wondering.

Her father has since died too. But she can’t say she cared much. Not about the man himself anyway. The flurry of activity that came with the death of an emperor and subsequent succession had been another matter. She and the rest of the country had sworn allegiance to Ling Yao and that had gone about as well as could be expected. The emperor has her allegiance, but her half-brother has her friendship and they both know which is the more valuable. She lost her father and the consequences of an old monarch finally exiting the political mire of Xing court meant more than any familial ties she may have had to the man. 

Al though, Al seems like he would care no matter the sins of his father. His heart is open and forgiving and loves too easily. She thinks of the hollow armor and the gentle soul locked inside. It wasn’t protection but a cage and a lifeline. The strength to be kind and soft in a hard and cruel world is not earned by accident.

Al’s father and the father of western alkehestry regards them and the open door with the benevolent unseeing gaze of an icon. Mei thinks bitterly that one should never meet their heroes and even less their heros’ estranged family. Because it’s hard to be at all reverent of the sage of the east anymore watching his son trying to decide whether or not to cry.

“Alphonse,” she calls out to him. She meant to show him all the wonders of the library today, the archives of centuries. But she thinks they can leave alchemy for another day. Not every moment need be dedicated to a man who couldn’t be bothered to stay around when he promised otherwise.

He turns and sees Mei standing in the open doorway, the sunrise filling the valley behind her full of light. She offers her hand and he goes to her, leaving his father behind.

**Author's Note:**

> Having a Novemeber to remember, hope everyone is surviving. Do the thing with the likes and the comments. have a good time. be civil. yike. one singular yike.  
> i dont have any more to spare.


End file.
